Happy Birthday Carter

After several days of sick Carter, he seemed better enough to go back to school Friday.  So we made some cookies for him to take to his friends...

Carter was a bit confused when he came downstairs and saw his birthday decorations.

Carter soon got into his groove and jumped on the table to do a dance (Carter loves to hand dance!).

He had so much fun on the table he got to have his birthday breakfast (3 kinds of cookies) on it.  (Side Note: Don't worry, Carter nibbled on one cookie before devouring his yogurt).

Carter was still a bit under the weather so we dropped off Parker and the cookies and headed home.  Carter wasted no time diving into his presents. 

 He worked out a lot on energy on his new trampoline.

 And pulled his kitchen helper right up to the sink where he proceeded to wash some dishes (seriously).

Carter was in a water sort of mood so we went outside to play with his water table for a bit before taking a nap.

But first, Carter was soaked from all his water play so he had to change clothes.  He picked out an outfit to wear.  Unfortunately it involved two shirts but he insisted so mom improvised.

It was a fun start to Carter's birthday.   But we have a whole day planned so stay tuned!

Scary Episode at the Holden House

Everything started out normal Tuesday evening.  We did our typical routine but as the night went on Carter seemed a little "off".  We had a slight fever and wasn't hungry so we put him to bed a bit early.  After dinner, mom had the baby monitor when she heard a strange noise.  Carter was having a seizure in his crib.

We rushed him to the ER where his temp was 104.  A lot of tests were done and everything came back normal.  We saw the pediatrician several times over the next few days and it was finally determined that Carter had a viral infection (probably a cold).  He had suffered a febrile seizure caused by a quick spike in his temperature.

The "good news" is that there is no long term damage from the seizure and they are relatively common among kids this age.  The "bad news" is that there is a 20-30% chance of reoccurance before the age of 5.

The whole episode was extremely frighting for everyone and one we hope doesn't happen again.  But we definitely feel better prepared to handle the situation if it does happen again.  And Carter got a new art smock in the process!

And he got to spend several days hanging out solo with mom and dad while we got him healthy!

Weekly Recap

Parker (5 months)

Parker was a drooly baby this week and wanted everything in his mouth.  I'm not sure if it's teething or just a love of eating.  I guess we'll know soon enough!  Here are a few pictures of the cutie pie this week.

Wrestling with the dragon

Wondering why mom dressed him in these silly pants

Everything in the mouth!

Carter (23 months)

Carter had a good week being a toddler.  He still loves to be outside and has been enjoying playing with all the big kids in the neighborhood.  One of his new favorite words is "watch".  When he sees someone doing something cool, he will request we "watch" them.  Since we have pulled put his water tables, he has come home every way and asked to play with "water".

As you can tell, Carter's vocabulary has grown quite a bit and he loves to repeat what mom/dad say.  He has even developed a new habit of talking himself to sleep.  Usually after we put him down, he will start chatting for a while.  It's pretty funny to listen to the baby monitor and hear him counting.

Brothers
Carter was definitely in a big brother mood this week.  Here are a few pictures from one morning where he asked me to take their picture before we left (yeas he actually asked me to take his picture).

Proud big brother

Giving the baby a kiss

Giving the baby a hug

Taste of Marietta

We didn't get our festival fix Saturday, so Sunday we packed the kids up for the Taste of Marietta.  Parker was really excited for the fun.

Carter was on board as soon as we got him some watermelon (which he devoured in 2 minutes!).

After sampling a few things, we got to the main event... the kids area.  Carter was immediately drawn to the inflatable Pirate Ship.

Cater recruited dad to join him and the were off on an adventure.

The adventure involved lots of sliding for Carter...

and dad!

After the boys had their fix of the pirate ship, Carter convinced mom to try the big dump truck slide.

After lots of sliding, we decided to head home.  Carter wasn't leaving before he got a new balloon.  And lucky for him, this one came with a sucker!  It was Carter's first lollipop and it was a hit.

Sunday Morning

Everyone woke up early Sunday morning so we ran errands and grabbed a quick bite at Waffle House (Carter's favorite restaurant).  Then we hung around the house which might sound low-key but that's not the case with two little ones!

Carter was very into hanging out with his little brother.  We put Parker on his play mat and Carter had to join him.

He then decided Parker needed a hug.  And Carter hugs his brother with his whole body!

Parker wasn't quite sure about this new hugging technique.  But he loves his brother so he didn't object.

After the hug-fest, Carter proceeded outside to play with his new balloon and his water tables....

and don't forget the bubbles!

After some messy outdoor fun, we changed clothes, napped and decided to try our hand at some indoor activities.  Carter helped Parker take his first golf shot!

He was really proud of the little guy!

The Parker tried his hand at another Carter favorite... the drums.

It was time for Parker's tummy time so Carter decided to join him and show him how it's done.

Big brother made Parker much happier during tummy time!

Well... the cuteness only lasted so long until Carter decided he wanted to wrestle with the baby.  Fortunately Parker is a good sport!

Just another fun morning with the Holden boys!

Jonquil Festival

Smyrna had a festival this weekend which happened to be right outside where Carter's gym class is.  So after class the whole family hit up the Jonquil festival (Smyrna's official flower).  After grabbing a balloon, Carter was immediately drawn to the fire truck.  He checked out all the equipment.

Parker focused on looking cute and chewing on his carrier.

Carter thought the truck was lots of fun (that's a smile!).

All the truck playing was exhausting so he decided to take a load off for a while.

Parker was also exhausted so he caught some zzzz's in his carrier.

After checking out all the activities, we grabbed some lunch and Carter was ready to go.  So we headed to the train playground where Carter had a blast.

It was a nice Saturday morning before it got too hot to be outside.  Good thing it was time for the boys' naps!

Weekly Recap

Parker (5 months)
We added lunch to Parker's eating routine this week.  He started the week eating 1/2 a jar for lunch and 1/2 a jar for dinner and by Sunday was up to 3/4 jar for lunch and a full jar for dinner.  Parker is definitely growing.  The best way I can tell is that we are moving him up to his 6 month clothes and he actually has some rolls on his thighs now.  Even Parker was surprised about his progress!

Overall. Parker was happy and easy going this week.  He loves to dole out smiles to anyone how gives him attention.

We made a brief attempt to break him from his swaddle this week but he did this for about 20 minutes with his eyes closed.  So we figured we'll worry about getting him to sleep through the night first.

The biggest news this week was Parker is starting to sit up.  He can go for a few seconds straight up but then he will generally make a tripod with his hands and hang out for a while. 

Unfortunately his efforts have often big thwarted by congratulatory licks from his big sister.

Carter (23 months)
Carter started out the week under the weather.  He came home from daycare with a stomach bug Monday and spend the next two days taking it easy with lots of sleep and snuggles.

Thankfully, he seemed to be back to normal by Thursday.  Carter continues to expand his vocabulary and develop more of an understanding of sentence structure.  He has a few complete sentences and is using more and more verbs.  His favorite word this week was "Carter".  He loves to talk about what Carter is going to do and what belongs to Carter ("mine" was probably his favorite word from the previous week).

Brothers
Parker was really excited to show his big brother his progress on sitting this week.

He had a lot of tumbles early in the week...

So Carter spent some time modeling how it was done!

Here are a few cute pictures of the boys from this week:

Showing solidarity to get Carter well!

All the Holden Men